HK stocks fall after Trump comments on "one China" policy

Reuters Staff

2 Min Read

Dec 12 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks fell the most in one month on Monday, hurt by a tumble in mainland shares and after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s comments on the “one China” policy risked inflaming tensions between Beijing and Washington.

China’s stocks tumbled the most in six months on Monday after regulator’s fresh measures to rein in insures’ aggressive stake-building.

Adding to market anxiety, Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to stick to its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of “one China”.

Investors were already cautious ahead of a Federal Reserve’s policy meeting later this week which is widely expected to bring a U.S. interest rate hike for the first time this year, making emerging markets less attractive.

Hong Kong’s currency peg to the U.S. dollar ensures that interest rates follow that of the United States, meaning higher borrowing costs for real estate developers. An index tracking property shares lost over 2 percent at the close.

“The main reason for today’s losses is Trump,” said Alex Wong, Hong Kong-based director at Ample Finance Group, adding that the market was worried about China-U.S. trade after Trump’s comment.

“You can tell from the slump in the industrial shares. If you worry about the relationship between China and America, industrial sector would be bruised the most.”

The benchmark Hang Seng index extended early losses and dropped 1.4 percent, to 22,433.02, while the China Enterprises Index lost 1.7 percent, to 9,699.31 points.

All sectors in the city lost ground. (Reporting by Jackie Cai and John Ruwitch; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)